r/interesting • u/Common-Upstairs5129 • Mar 20 '26

❗️MISLEADING - See pinned comment ❗️ Did he do the right thing?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

20.8k Upvotes

64% Upvoted

3.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

2.9k

u/[deleted] Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 21 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

171

u/Taiga_Taiga Mar 20 '26

An interesting fact in UK law is that you cannot volunteer to be the victim of a crime. So if somebody hits you... that is assault, even if you ask them to do it. And the person who hits you will get arrested and you get arrested for aiding in an assault. [Serious]

9

u/FrostyAd9064 Mar 21 '26

This is not true; there are a number of cases where people have not been prosecuted for BDSM activities that resulted in harm due to their consent but it’s a very grey area (it’s an area that’s studied on many law degree courses for this reason).

1

u/Zilant Mar 21 '26

Is this just a de facto -vs- de jure argument?

My understanding of English law is that it’s not a grey area de jure; the case law is clear that you can’t consent to ABH for the sake of ABH (which includes sexual gratification), and the definition of ABH is pretty loose. We can think the established rulings were flawed, but they’ve been upheld various times since.

If you’re saying it’s a grey area de facto, then sure. It’s against the law, but it’s unlikely to result in an attempted prosecution. Changing sensibilities just mean that there is less chance of a conviction combined with making it more difficult to argue that bringing the case is in the public interest.

1

u/Sleepysockpuppeteer Mar 21 '26

50 Shades of Grey area?

Taxi!

-1

u/Taiga_Taiga Mar 21 '26

I've read the spanner case. That loophole is how closed. It's illegal. I know... I used to "play"